Tuesday, March 28, 2017

"I think of Alexander and Dakota as my children. Dakota was four or five years old when I got to that house, and Alexander was 8. I haven't changed diapers to Dakota by miracle, but I held her in my arms around the world. And I have a lot of love for them and they have it for me. And we are in direct contact all the time."

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The third generation of consecrated artists seems to have inherited the ability of its family. Born on October 4, 1989 in Austin, Texas, she received the outstanding skills of her parents, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and from her grandmother who is Tippi Hedren, and in 1996, Antonio Banderas became her stepfather.

She made her feature film debut with Crazy in Alabama (1999) starring Griffith and Banderas. In 2006, she was named Miss Golden Globe. After being successful as a model, Johnson had a small role as Sean Parker's lover (Justin Timberlake) in the dramatic film "The Social Network" (2010) which won an Oscar for "Best Ensemble" and also was awarded at various festivals.

The actress went on to be cast for roles in such major films as "Beastly" (2011), "21 Jump Street" (2012) and "The Five-Year Engagement" (2012) being a single mother in "Ben and Kate" (Fox 2012-13) where she had the star role of Kate. It was followed by important cast roles in "Need For Speed" (2014) and dramatic "Cymbeline" (2014), and Johnson became one of the highest profile young actresses, when she was cast as the innocent Anastasia Steele in the film adaptation of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)". Although the film was hardly well received, it had a great success in the box office. Johnson's next and greatest success came with the release of the dramatic film "Black Mass" (2015), where she worked with Johnny Depp, who played the famous and true gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, the Bostonian who became an informer for the FBI.

In the not yet released "Fifty Shades Darker" returns the same type of argument. How does it help keep the topic fresh? What makes it exciting and different for you?

Dakota: That was something that intrigued me to do the three films because I felt in the first we were affirming this story and the characters and telling the people who they were and what they were doing. In this, it was more about discovering Anastasia's sexual journey and her attempt to get to know herself, and what she likes to be with this other person, who is very firm in his goals. So I think it was to focus on the details and the relationship between two people.

Can you comment on your feeling of focusing on the details? You mentioned "sex toys" (laughs).

Dakota: Make a film with that prevailing concept, you are forced to investigate, and my research is mostly about what I can learn about that kind of life and all the things that are added to it. There are some of them that are really beautiful. I don't have any "sex toys" (laughs), but the feelings of these films have an irresistible force. Sometimes it can cause fear but it does not cause me that effect. I don't always find it a hundred percent positive. I also get waves and feelings of insecurity, and I wonder what people can learn from all this.

You made the first film of this series with Jamie Dornan and now you'll be together again. How was filming with him again?

Dakota: We were lucky enough to film them one after the other. So we spent six months together and we could act the most intimate scenes, which were not sexually explicit, but were emotionally intimate. We get along very well and after the daily filming, especially on the weekends, we spent time doing things, shopping and sightseeing.

You said that your father (actor Don Johnson) was not very protective. I want to refer to your mother (actress Melanie Griffith), how did she feel that a little girl was growing up doing such revealing roles?

Dakota: I think my father was quite protective. But when they saw me doing this job, they could not do anything. I was pretty tough. I thought they would like to see these movies that put me in that place in my life, but it was inappropriate (laughs) ... They don't judge me on the projects that I decided to do. They judged me, about what kind of human being I am with other human beings.

You are very comfortable with your body, what gives you so much confidence when you are so young?

Dakota: I think it probably comes from my mother. I grew up thinking that women are beautiful and that makes them feel comfortable with their bodies, and that is good to have a body and there is nothing wrong with that.

Once Woody Allen said that women give sex to get love and that men give love to get sex, do you agree with that thought?

Dakota: That's a very broad concept. And I don't agree at all, although I am sure that in certain circumstances it can happen. "The most amazing experience".

Did you finish filming Suspiria? (NdR: It is a remake with the same title of the film in 1977, directed by Dario Argento).

Dakota: Yes, we've just filmed the new version directed by Luca Guadagnino.

What was it like filming with Luca?

Dakota: Until this point in my career, it was the most incredible experience of my life.

Why?

Dakota: I can't tell you (laughs). Well, first of all, I loved the original movie. We did our best to improve the argument with the cast and the people interested in the project. The artistic level was formidable. So everyone, from the producer to the music, everything was fascinating, beautiful and terrifying.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

From Deadline: As Deadline tipped early last month, Fifty Shades star Dakota Johnson will topline in Unfit, a fact-based courtroom drama set in the 1920s.

Amazon Studios won a multi-studio bidding battle for the pic, on which Johnson also will serve as an executive producer under her Silhouette Productions with Brett Ratner and John Cheng of RatPac Entertainment producing.The spec script, based on Adam Cohen’s book Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, was written by former litigation lawyer Melissa London Hilfers.

The logline: In the not-so-distant past, America was gripped by a political movement that promised to eliminate the “unfit” from our country. Unfit is the true story of Carrie Buck, a young Virginia woman who became a lightning rod for that movement, whose 1927 Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell legalized the sterilization of “undesirable” citizens. Buck was forced to fight against it singlehandedly for the one thing she desperately wanted: to be a mother.

“Like many, I was not privy to this shocking and fascinating moment in American history,” Johnson said. “I quickly became obsessed with the prospect of shedding light on the massive misstep in American justice. Carrie Buck’s story is poignant and galvanizing, and certain aspects are unnervingly congruent with the relationship between the government and women today. It is an important story that alongside RatPac and Amazon, I am honored and eager to tell.”

Said Ratner: “Dakota had told me about the book Imbeciles at a lunch last year, and when John Cheng and I read the spec script, we sent it to her immediately. I couldn’t be more thrilled be involved in this project with Dakota and Amazon, because I know Amazon’s passion and enthusiasm for telling this story is just as strong as Dakota’s. Although this story took place almost a hundred years ago, the subject matter is unbelievably timely.”From EW: The Fifty Shades Darker actress is set to star in Unfit, a drama about a notorious 1927 Supreme Court case that permitted the forced sterilization of “undesirable” citizens, EW has confirmed.

Based on Adam Cohen’s nonfiction book Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, the film will chronicle the story of a poor young Virginia woman who was declared “feebleminded” and sterilized by the state in what has since been recognized as a gross miscarriage of justice.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

"I am a girl who lives well within the family. I prefer to stay in my living room with my friends than be on the spotlight. The truth is that, when something is wrong, I prefer to deal with it rationally, rather than with an aggressive approach. This is what makes me a free woman and never submissive."

"I don't believe that a sensitive woman can't also be a determined person."

"They {her parents} are protective, but they focus more on the mistakes that I do as a person away from the set." Q: "For example? "Maybe if I feel too insecure."

"Not everyone, however, can understand why I accepted this role {Anastasia} so far and this makes me sick."

"As a free and independent woman I have the right to not needing to explain to everyone who I am or how I feel about each topic. My work has to do with the movies, I will not tell others what ideas can or can not have."

Dakota Johnson: "The truth is that my life has changed a lot and in a significant way. I've been lucky to travel all over the world. I'm surrounded by brilliant people and there are fans of the movie who have been incredible with me. What I liked the most is that I have had the opportunity to work and be exposed to many things. If I think the world is having better sex thanks to us and the movie? Yes, I accept it and I love it."

Jamie Dornan: "I speak for myself and Dakota. It's been a very exciting journey. We got along very well and we have worked very well together. We make ourselves laugh all the time."